Law and You > Criminal Laws > Criminology > Victimology and Victimization
Benjamin Mendelsohn who coined the term in 1947. Victimology is the scientific study of the extent, nature, and causes of criminal victimization, its consequences for the persons involved and the reactions hereto by society, in particular the police and the criminal justice system as well as voluntary workers and professional helpers. Victimology attempts to arrive at general theories of victimization and insights on how victimization can be avoided.
Victimization:
Victimization refers to the experience of being victimized or harmed by another person or entity. It can take many forms, including physical, emotional, financial, or sexual abuse, among others. While victimization can happen to anyone, some individuals are at a higher risk of being victimized than others. Understanding the causes of victimization is crucial in developing effective prevention and intervention strategies to reduce its incidence.
Victimization is a complex phenomenon that can be caused by multiple factors. Social inequality, risk factors, psychological factors, and the lack of social support are some of the key factors that contribute to victimization. Understanding these causes is crucial in developing effective prevention and intervention strategies to reduce victimization and support victims in their recovery. By addressing these factors, we can create a safer and more equitable society for everyone.
Causes of Victimization:
- One of the primary causes of victimization is social inequality. People from marginalized or disadvantaged communities, such as low-income households, ethnic minorities, or people with disabilities, are at a higher risk of being victimized. This is because they may lack access to resources and opportunities that can protect them from harm.
- Another factor that contributes to victimization is the presence of risk factors. These may include individual or environmental factors that increase the likelihood of being victimized. Individual risk factors may include age, gender, or substance abuse, among others. Environmental risk factors, may include living in high-crime neighbourhoods or being in proximity to high-risk individuals.
- Psychological factors also play a significant role in victimization. People with certain personality traits, such as low self-esteem, a tendency to avoid conflict, or a lack of assertiveness, may be more vulnerable to victimization. Additionally, people with a history of trauma or abuse may be more likely to be re-victimized.
- Lack of social support can contribute to victimization. People who lack supportive relationships, such as family or friends, may be more vulnerable to victimization. This is because they may lack the resources or social networks that can help them cope with stressful situations or seek help in times of need.
Kinds of Victimization:
Peer Victimization:
Peer victimization is the experience among children of being a target of the aggressive behaviour of other children, who are not siblings and not necessarily age-mates.
Self-Victimization:
Self-victimization (or victim playing) is the fabrication of victimhood for a variety of reasons such to justify abuse of others, to manipulate others, a coping strategy or attention seeking.
Secondary victimization:
Secondary victimization relates to further victimization following on from the original victimization. It is also known as post crime victimization or double victimization.
Revictimization:
Revictimization refers to a pattern wherein the victim of abuse and/or crime has a statistically higher tendency to be victimized again, either shortly thereafter or much later in adulthood in the case of abuse as a child. This latter pattern is particularly notable in cases of sexual abuse.
Self-image of Victimization:
Victims of abuse and manipulation often get trapped into a self-image of victimization. The psychological profile of victimization includes a pervasive sense of helplessness, passivity, loss of control, pessimism, negative thinking, strong feelings of guilt, shame, self-blame and depression. This way of thinking can lead to hopelessness and despair. It can also be referred as victim mentality.
Modes of Victimization:
Adult Physical Assault:
It may be simple or aggravated. Simple assault is that assault, where no weapon was used, and there is no serious or aggravated injury. It may include intimidation, coercion, etc. Aggravated assault is an unlawful attack by one person on another which inflicts severe bodily injury. In most of aggravated assaults a weapon is involved, and the intent is to do grave bodily harm or death.
Child Physical Abuse or Neglect:
Child physical abuse includes any type of non-accidental physical injury due to punching, beating, kicking, biting, shaking, throwing, stabbing, choking, hitting (with a hand, stick, strap, or other objects), burning, or any other type of harm done to a child by a parent, caregiver, or another person.
Arson:
Arson involves any willful burning or attempts to burn a house, public building, car or airplane, or any type of personal property of another.
Bullying:
Bullying is a form of aggressive behaviour in which someone intentionally and repeatedly causes another person injury or discomfort. Any type of verbal or physical harassment between one or a group of kids against another where the behaviour is repeated over a period of time is considered bullying behaviour. The main cause of bullying is the imbalance of power. It includes hitting, kicking, punching, shoving, teasing, and taunting. When a person or group purposely excludes or isolates the person against others then it is also considered bullying behaviour.
In this modern era new form of bullying is observed called cyber bullying. Cyberbullying is bullying with the use of digital technologies. It can take place on social media, messaging platforms, gaming platforms and mobile phones. It is repeated behaviour, aimed at scaring, angering or shaming those who are targeted.
Burglary:
Burglary is a crime against property usually associated with stealing or vandalism in a home, business, vehicle, or other property.
Teen Dating Victimization:
Teen Dating Victimization occurs when there is physical, sexual, psychological, or emotional violence between teenagers who are dating. This can also include stalking and can happen in person or electronically.
Domestic Violence:
Domestic violence may include a spouse, ex-spouse, boyfriend, girlfriend, ex-boyfriend or ex-girlfriend, and any family members or people that reside together in the same home. With domestic violence, there is a pattern of abusive behaviour that includes physical, sexual, emotional, economic, or psychological actions or threats in order to gain control and power over another individual.
Hate Crime:
A crime against a person or personal property where the primary motivation for the crime is based on the offender’s bias against a race, religion, disability, ethnic origin, or sexual orientation is considered a hate crime.
Human Trafficking:
Human Trafficking is the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of people through force, fraud or deception, with the aim of exploiting them for profit. Men, women and children of all ages and from all backgrounds can become victims of this crime, which occurs in every region of the world. The traffickers often use violence or fraudulent employment agencies and fake promises of education and job opportunities to trick and coerce their victims.
Theft:
Theft is the unlawful and unauthorized removal of any personal property for one’s own use.
Identity Theft:
Identity theft is the crime of obtaining the personal or financial information of another person to use their identity to commit fraud, such as making unauthorized transactions or purchases. Identity theft is committed in many different ways and its victims are typically left with damage to their credit, finances, and reputation.
Sexual Abuses:
Adult Sexual Assault
Such assaults involve assaults or attempted assaults of unwanted sexual contact between a perpetrator and the victim. There could be force or even coercion, including things like grabbing, fondling, and even verbal threats. Sexual assault includes rape, sexual harassment, etc. There may be some cases in which adults who were sexually abused while they were children. In such childhood victimization the victim may have difficulty establishing and maintaining intimate relationships.
Child Sexual Abuse/Assault:
This type of victimization can include fondling a child’s genitals, penetration, incest, rape, sodomy, indecent exposure, and exploitation through prostitution by a parent, caregiver, or another person. This also applies to teen sexual assault.
Rape:
Rape is the sexual penetration (however slight) of the victim’s vagina, mouth, or rectum without consent. Rape involves penetration with (a) the use of force/fear or the threat of force/fear; or (b) with a person who is otherwise incapable of giving consent, including situations where the individual is under the influence of alcohol or drugs and this condition was or should have reasonably been known to the accused.
Sexual Touching:
Sexual touching, also known as sexual battery, is the act of making unwanted and sexually offensive contact (clothed or unclothed) with an intimate body part of another person or an action, which causes immediate apprehension that sexual touch will occur.
Sexual Exploitation:
Sexual exploitation is the taking advantage of a non-consenting person or situation for personal benefit or gratification or for the benefit of anyone other than the alleged victim; and the behaviour does not constitute rape, sexual touching or sexual harassment.
Sexual Harassment:
Sexual Harassment is any unwelcome sexual conduct or behaviour that creates an intimidating, hostile or offensive working or educational environment.
Stalking:
Stalking is willful, malicious and repeated following of a person or harassing behaviours against another person, putting the person in reasonable fear for his or her personal safety, or the safety of his or her family. This includes use of notes, mail, gifts, communication technology (e.g. voicemail, text messages, internet and social networking sites – using any electronic or telecommunication is also known as cyber-stalking) to harass or convey a threat.
Child Pornography:
Child pornography is any type of visual impression of sexually explicit conduct, including photographs, film, video, a picture or drawing, or computer-generated image that is produced by electronic, mechanical, or other means where any of these four things are present:
- It depicts a minor involved in a sexually explicit act.
- The visual depiction is or appears to be of a minor engaging in a sexually explicit act.
- The visual has been created, adapted, or modified to appear that an identifiable minor is engaging in a sexually explicit act.
- It is advertised, distributed, or prompted in a way that conveys it is a minor engaging in a sexually explicit act.
Theories of Victimization:
There are four theories of victimization:
- Victim Precipitation Theory
- Lifestyle Theory
- Deviant Place Theory
- Routine Activities Theory
Victim Precipitation Theory:
According to this theory some victims initiate the confrontation that leads to their victimization, whether actively or passively. Various research studies have found that people who have an impulsive personality, rendering them as abrasive or obnoxious to others, may have a higher victimization rate. The reason is that impulsive people are antagonistic, making them more likely to be targeted. Also, they tend to be risky and will get involved in dangerous situations without being cautious.
For example: A drunken man engages in eve-teasing a woman, keeps chasing her, and eventually tries to get physical with her. In desperation, the woman reaches for any sharp object she can find, and stabs the man. The victim is not entirely blameless and innocent, and that the crime is a precipitation of the victim’s actions and the offender’s reaction.
The precipitation may be active or passive. Active precipitation occurs when the victim engages in threatening or provocative actions. While in passive precipitation the victim unconsciously behaves in a way or has specific characteristics that instigate or encourage an attack. Passive precipitation is typically the result of a power struggle; job promotions, successes, love interests, etc.
Lifestyle Theory:
Lifestyle theory suggests that certain people may become the victims of crimes because of their lifestyles and choices. Lifestyle choices that may raise one’s risk of victimization include: walking alone at night in dangerous area, living in the “bad” part of town, being promiscuous, drinking in excess, taking drugs, conspicuously wearing expensive jewellery, leaving doors unlocked and associating with known criminals, etc. Thus, the life style and choices of victims expose them to criminal offenders and situations where crime is likely to occur.
Walking alone at night in a dangerous area, are other lifestyle characteristics that may lead to victimization.
This theory also cites research that shows a correlation between the lifestyles of victims and offenders. Both tend to be impulsive and lack self-control, making the victim more likely to put themselves in high-risk situations and the offender more likely to engage in an unlawful act.
Deviant Place theory:
The deviant place theory states that greater exposure to dangerous places makes an individual more likely to become the victim of a crime. Unlike the victim precipitation theory, the victims do not influence the crime by actively or passively encouraging it, but rather are victimized as a result of being in “bad” areas. In order to lower the chance that one will become the victim of a crime, the individual should avoid the “bad” areas of town where crime rates are high.
Routine Activities Theory:
The routine activity theory has many common characteristics with the lifestyle-exposure theory. They both explore the role of routine patterns or lifestyles in creating an opportunity for the occurrence of a crime. The routine activities theory states there must be three factors present for a crime to occur viz. the availability of desirable targets, the presence of willing offenders, and the absence of capable guardians. These factors reflect the regular activities incorporated in a typical modern lifestyle, and they increase an individual’s risk of victimization when they converge. The confluence of these three factors at the right time facilitates the occurrence of a crime, and thus the targets that are caught in the process become victims. Therefore, the lack of any of these conditions will be enough to deter the occurrence of criminal activity.
Consequences of Victimization:
Physical Impacts of Victimization:
At the time of a crime, or upon discovering that a crime has occurred, victims are likely to experience a number of physical reactions to the event. These may include
- an increase in the adrenalin in the body, increased heart rate, hyperventilation, shaking, tears, numbness, a feeling of being frozen or experiencing events in slow motion, dryness of the mouth, enhancement of particular senses, such as smell, and a “fight or flight” response. It is common for people to lose control over their bowel movements. Some of these physical reactions may not occur until after the danger has passed. They may recur at a later stage when the memory of the crime returns.
- After the crime, victims may suffer a range of physical effects, including insomnia, appetite disturbance, lethargy, headaches, muscle tension, nausea and decreased libido. Such reactions may persist for some time after the crime has occurred.
- Physical injuries resulting from Victimization may not always be immediately apparent. Facial injuries are by far the most frequent in other forms of assault. Victims may suffer a range of physical damage, including abrasions and bruises, broken nose, cheekbone or jawbone and damage to or loss of teeth. Other injuries will be associated with assaults involving knives or firearms.
- Physical injuries may be a permanent effect of crime, and there is evidence that this has a negative effect on long-term psychological recovery since the physical scars serve as a constant reminder of the crime.
Social Impacts of Victimization:
- Crime victimization can impact an individual’s ability to perform across a variety of roles, including those related to parenting, intimate relationships, and occupational and social functioning.
- Crime victimization can also cause disruptions in social activities and impaired functioning in social relationships.
Psychological Impacts of Victimization:
- Crime is usually experienced as more serious than an accident or similar misfortune. It is difficult to come to terms with the fact that loss and injury have been caused by the deliberate act of another human being.
- The mental torment and trauma suffered by the effect of crime may be such as no reparation can make up. The crimes against violence, sometimes, affect victims permanently incapacitating them to behave as a responsible persons of the society and they out of feeling of revenge become hardened criminals.
- Some victims may, develop neurotic disorders. In cases of riots and communal violence, where the people lose their near and dear ones, the agony suffered by them may be life lasting.
Financial Impacts of Victimization:
- The offences against property are the offences in which victims sustain the loss of property.
- In offences involving violence and offences against human body also, victims suffer financial losses. Thus, in a riot, there happens to be enormous looking and destruction of immovable and movable property both.
- In offences against human body, the victims suffering physical incapabilities become sometimes incapable of doing employment or self-employment. Besides, they also incur expenses for their medical treatment and also high cost of litigation.
- When the victims suffer fatal injuries, their families have to bear the expenses in funeral or burial and follow on social traditions. The dependants of the earning member who loses life are more vulnerable.
- The financial stringencies and the poverty in such situation bring mental agony and traumatize the entire family of the deceased.
Victimization and the Criminal Justice System in India:
The development of victim oriented justice system in India is an outcome of proactive judiciary. The decisions of Supreme Court, particularly in 70’s and 80’s, have contributed towards recognition of the need and protection of victims of crime and abuse of power. The impact of UN Declaration of Justice for Victims of Crime and pro-victim judicial pronouncements is visible in subsequent legislative and executive initiatives. The Law commission of India in its 154th Report addressed the need for victim oriented approach to justice delivery system and recommended that the needs and rights of victims of crime should receive priority attention in the total response to crime.
Conclusion:
It is important to remember that victims do not choose to be victimized. Becoming a victim of crime is an unpleasant and unwanted life experience at best. The impact of criminal victimization is serious, throwing victims into a state of shock, fear, anxiety and anger. The emotional, physical, psychological and financial ramifications of crime can be devastating to victims. Coping with and recovering from victimization are complex processes.